


Briar Rose

by EmmyJay



Category: Sleeping Beauty (Fairy Tale), Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Fairy Tale Retellings, Gen, Series Finale Tribute, background Yuugi/Anzu, it's mentioned like once in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-07 01:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15898611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyJay/pseuds/EmmyJay
Summary: "Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, when gods walked the earth and pyramids stood stretching tall toward the sky, there lived a mighty pharaoh who greatly desired a son..."A father has a story to tell his children.





	Briar Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written December 2004 (while sitting in freshman science class, apparently) as a tribute to the series ending. Heavily revised and resposted as of September 2018.
> 
> Also, for anyone who ever frets they'll hate their own writing in the future: I wrote this literally half my life ago, and I still love it.

"Daddy, can you tell us the story again?"

Yugi looked up from the magazine he was reading, peering over the pages at the faces staring intently back at him: his two young daughters, Mari and Mana, and Mari's friend Ryuu.

He grinned.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" he asked, setting the magazine aside for the time being. "I have a **lot** of stories to tell, after all. Which one would you like?"

Mari rolled her eyes, a gesture that looked far too mature on a seven-year-old. "You _know_ which one! It's the same one you always tell! You know," she lowered her voice conspiratorially, glancing toward her friend and sister in turn. "The Sleeping Beauty one."

That certainly caught Ryuu's attention: gasping, clapping her hands together in front of her. "I _love_ Sleeping Beauty," she cried, staring at Yugi in wonder. Ryuu loved all fairy tales, she always had, so it was no surprise this particular one would interest her. Yugi sighed, seeing there was no avoiding the inevitable outcome—not that he minded of course, though he still feigned a look of resignation.

"Very well," he said, forcing a weary tone into his voice, and all three girls scrambled into the first chairs they could find, nearly vibrating out of their skin with anticipation. The sight brought a smile to Yugi's face, and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Let's see," he mused, "Sleeping Beauty...

"Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, when gods walked the earth and pyramids stood stretching tall toward the sky, there lived a mighty pharaoh, who greatly desired a son."

"Mr. Mutou, you're telling it wrong." That was Ryuu, the beginnings of a frown on her young face. "The king wants a _daughter_ , not a son." Her complaints were interrupted by Mari flicking her sharply on the ear.

"This is how Daddy tells it," she snapped, glaring as Ryuu rubbed her abused ear; with a last resenting look, the girl backed down, and Mari turned back to her father. "Don't stop, Daddy!"

Yugi gave his eldest a lightly rebuking look before continuing. "The pharaoh wanted a son, more than anything else in the land. And finally, one day, his beloved queen gave him one: a beautiful baby boy. They named him..."

He trailed off expectantly, and without missing a beat Mari and Mana chorused together: "Atem!"

"That's right, that was his name: Atem.

"The pharaoh was overjoyed. He presented the boy the kingdom as his heir, the one who was to take up rule after his death, and everyone from all across Egypt gathered at the palace to gaze upon this beautiful baby.

"Everyone...except one.

"The pharaoh's brother—"

("That's not how it—"

"SHH. Let Daddy tell it his way!")

"—a priest at the palace, deeply resented Atem's existence. For you see, the boy's birth meant that his own son would never rule. The priest's resentment grew within him, taking on a life of its own. Consumed by this darkness, he cast a wicked spell..."

Here Yugi paused, eyes flicking between his two daughters. They both squirmed where they sat, barely contained, until his eyes fell pointedly on Mana. The girl swelled with glee, while Mari slumped dejectedly, pouting at having not been chosen.

"'To set my own son on the throne,'" Mana recited, "'I curse this child. On the eve of his seventeenth year the prince will die, his body trapped for all time within the peak of the mightiest pyramid, his soul forever lost to the shadows within.'"

She looked to her father for approval as she finished, and Yugi mussed her hair affectionately.

"So Atem grew up to be happy and healthy, and when his father at long last passed away, he took up the throne—"

("But—"

"Be quiet!")

"—where he ruled Egypt with a kind hand. But unfortunately, with this power came a dark, terrible secret.

"During his rule, Atem's father had played a part in the resurrection of a chaotic power, one unleashed with the slaughter of a child's innocence. Atem, upon discovering this evil, fought against it; and in the end, after a fierce struggle of heartache and sorrow, of pain and destruction—he won.

"But alas!" Yugi accentuated the proclamation with a dramatic gesture, pressing the back of one hand to his brow. "The darkness was beaten, but at a terrible price: Atem had won the battle, but lost so much more. For as he stood gazing out upon the wreckage, the wicked priest's curse began to take hold, and the pharaoh's body was scattered to the sands, his spirit cast into an eternal slumber.

"There he lay, trapped within an ever-changing labyrinth of traps and illusions. A barrier of pure gold surrounded it, forged with innocent blood, sealing away any who might dare to trespass. And for thousands of years he remained there: his heart and mind fractured, doomed to slumber for all of eternity.

"Until one day, long ago but not so many ages past, there was a young boy."

"The prince?!" Ryuu, sounding positively horrified, was once more unable to contain herself. "But he isn't a young boy, he's tall and handsome! And besides, Sleeping Beauty's the prince now! A prince needs a _princess_! And—"

But the girl could say no more as Mari, apparently at the end of her tether, threw herself onto her friend with a battle cry, and Sleeping Beauty was put on hold as Yugi's priorities shifted to separating the two.

"If the two of you can't behave like big girls, I won't be finishing the story at all!" He scolded some time later, a girl in each hand, holding them forcibly apart from one another. "Either you make up and sit back down, or I'll call Ryuu's father to come pick her up right now, and you," he frowned pointedly at Mari, "can go to straight to bed."

The two girls looked at each other, both with matching petulant frowns. Somewhat reluctantly they mumbled apologies, shaking hands once Yugi released them, and returning to sit with Mana, who had watched the entire debacle with the air of one who had seen it all before. Yugi too settled back in his chair, though not before throwing Mari one last warning look.

"As I was saying before," he continued, "there was a boy, who was very, very alone.

"I'm sure you all know someone like that: someone who doesn't fit in, for whatever reason, no matter how hard they try. That was the case with this child. His closest friends were games and puzzles, and it was amongst them that he would spend his days: toying and tinkering, day after day. Until one night, his life was forever changed."

"He found Sleeping Beauty!" The girls cried in unison.

"As he sat alone in his room, tinkering as he usually did, he heard a voice call to him; a voice that spoke words he could not understand, but as soon as he heard them, the boy drifted into slumber. And where should he wake but inside the very prison in which the imprisoned prince lay, his body cold with time, the fractured pieces of his soul scattered at his feet.

"The boy was confused, but the sight of such a broken soul comforted him with the familiarity of a puzzle. At once he set about restoring it, piecing the fragments together, making it whole once more. And no sooner had he let the final piece slide into place than the life of the pharaoh was restored.

"At once his eyes flew open, startled to be awake after so many ages in sleep. And as the saw each other for the first time, they knew in their hearts that they had found a kindred—that neither would want for anything so long as they had each other."

Here Yugi's expression slipped, the theatrics and enthusiasm dropping from his face, and in their place was left an old sort of sadness, almost a longing. It was a look that made him look far older than he was, and Mana wriggled down from her chair to trot over to him, crawling into his lap and wrapping her arms around him in a hug—not fully understanding the change in mood, but wanting to comfort her father all the same. The contact seemed to snap Yugi out of a reverie; he pressed a kiss to his younger daughter's forehead, stroking the ruddy hair away from her face.

"Together, through trials of courage and friendship, they were able to piece the pharaoh back to completeness. And at long last, after thousands of years, he was able to rest—not the lonely slumber of his curse, but among friends and family, the people he loved. And even though he had to leave the boy behind, they both went to this destiny gladly. For the boy's life had been forever changed, and he knew would never forget the time they had spent together, or forsake the bonds he had forged along the way.

"The end."

As the story came to a close, Mana planted a wet, sloppy kiss on her father's cheek. "Thank you, Daddy," she whispered, and her words seemed to cue the other two to move as well, rising from their seats to join her by Yugi's chair.

"Someday I want to learn to tell that story," Mari declared confidently, beaming when her father acknowledged her with a nod.

"I still say you told it wrong," Ryuu grumbled, earning a gentle shove from Mari before the two chased each other out of the room, dissolving into giggles. Mana lingered a moment longer, giving her father one last hug, before she too slipped to the floor and ran after her sister.

Alone at last, Yugi rose from his chair, crossing to the bureau set against the opposite wall. His daughters had always been forbidden from opening the top drawer, and though they had pestered him and Anzu endlessly over what was inside, neither of their parents ever revealed its contents. The handle was cold from lack of touch, and the wood groaned as Yugi pulled it open, taking from within his oldest, most beloved treasure. The one he would never give up.

"And they lived happily ever after," he whispered to the golden box with its ornate engravings, relishing in the gentle _clink_ , _clink_ of so many metal pieces jostled about within. "Until the end of their days."

In the low light of the living room, the eye on the front seemed to glint reassuringly at him.


End file.
